Heart's Desire
by Galadriel Caskett
Summary: [MaLoki] Sequel to Sayonara. AU, LokiMayu. Rated because there will be slightly mature scenes at the end. Loki comes back!
1. Short tempers

Yamino could not, in all honesty, recall Loki-sama being in a fouler mood.

Of late, his father had been irritable, given to little bursts of temper, and curt with his words. Not to mention that he seemed somewhat jumpy; and then there was the strange habit he had developed of bringing out the scrying mirror the Norns had given him, then replacing it, unused, into the cupboard...

He paused outside the closed door of the trickster god's study, tea-tray in hand, and sighed. Truth be told, his father had been behaving rather unusually ever since he had returned to Asgard over half a year ago; and while he knew that it was partially because of his lingering attachment to Mayura-san, he thought - and hoped - that it was also a simple case of nerves. It's not everyday a god initiates Ragnarok, after all.

Now, when the whole matter was finished and closed, Yamino wasn't so sure that his diagnosis had been correct.

"Come in, Yamino-kun."

He braced himself; he had long learned to fear his father's wrath. In some ways, it could be worse than even Odin-sama's. Carefully, he turned the antique, burnished doorknob, and stepped into the room.

"Your tea, Loki-sama."

His father, busy scowling at a document, didn't bother to glance at him, but acknowledged his son's presence with a terse nod.

Yamino waited.

Eventually, when it became quite clear that he had no intention of leaving, Loki looked up and raised an inquiring eyebrow.

"Yes, Yamino-kun?"

His son fidgeted uneasily, shifting his weight from foot to foot. Finally, he lifted his head to face the god, and asked, "Is something wrong, Loki-sama?"

Loki smiled - an ominously calm sort of smile that had Yamino mentally retreating several feet - and answered, "Of course not, Yamino-kun. Whatever put such a thought into your head?"

Pulling himself together, the human-snake continued bravely, "Well... You seem a little... out-of-sorts."

The smile widened. "Really, now?"

If Jormungand had had been anything less than the trickster god's son, he would probably have turned and fled at that point. As it was, he was _fairly_ sure that his father wouldn't do anything too permanent to him; and so, he gathered his flagging courage and plowed doggedly on.

"Actually... yes. And... you keep looking at that mirror the Norns gave you... Is something going to happen in Midgard?"

At the word, Loki's eyes glittered flintily, and Yamino really did fear for his life for those few seconds.

Finally, Loki sank back into his chair, and expelled a faint sigh of defeat. "As a matter of fact, yes. Mayura's... getting married." The last was said with an air of distaste, and a flatness which spoke eloquently of repressed emotion.

There was a stunned silence. Then, Yamino choked out the words. "Mayura-san?"

"... Yes."

"... I assume... that we aren't going to attend the festivities?"

Loki's emerald eyes flashed dangerously, and he stood abruptly. "No, we aren't."

Yamino managed to think, fleetingly, that he was quite insane to push his luck yet further, even as the question tumbled helplessly out of his mouth. "Why?"

"Because."

"Because?"

His father favored him with a glare. "You know the reason why, Yamino-kun."

He opened his mouth in protestation of his innocence, but shut it again. Luckily for him, Fenrir chose that precise instant to barrel straight into the room.

"Daddy!"

Loki smiled at his older son. "Hello, Fenrir."

Unluckily for him, Fenrir _still_ hadn't learned to sense Loki's moods. Not very well, anyway.

"The mystery girl's getting married? Does that mean that," the dog's eyes sparkled soulfully, "we'll get to eat lots of cake? And meat? At her wedding?"

Loki's smile promptly vanished. "No, we won't."

The wolf which had struck terror into the hearts of the Aesir pouted petulantly. "Why not?"

Loki grated his words out. "Because we won't be **going**, Fenrir."

The puppy blinked quizzically. "We won't?"

The trickster god looked like he was getting a stress headache. "No, we won't. Now, would both of you **_please _**leave me alone for a while?"

Not even Fenrir was obtuse enough to miss a dismissal as fervent as that.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA **

Loki waited till both of his children were out of the room, before dropping back into his chair with a frustrated groan.

He _supposed_ he should be feeling guilty for taking his anger out on his children, but the only emotion he could manage at that moment was one of deep disgruntlement.

Damn, but he still hadn't forgotten the roiling jealousy and betrayal he had felt when Mayura had told him, so readily, that she was getting married. True, it wasn't as though he had actually promised her anything, or that anything explicit had ever passed between them, or that he would even be around to see her in her new, blissfully wedded state...

But still, the knowledge hurt, festering deep within him.

He had known that, one day, they would both suffer. It was the main reason why he had asked Verdandi to create something which would erase her memories of him, after all. If she didn't remember him anymore, she couldn't get hurt, and he... Well, he would miss her, but knowing that there was no going back would have helped, if but slightly.

And being the idiot he was, he hadn't given it to her.

He cursed internally.

Now, he was paying the price, and he knew he deserved it.

He let his head fall onto his table with a weak thud. When she had called for him the night before last, he had heard her as clearly as the clarion of a trumpet. For a brief instant, he had considered simply not responding; but he supposed that the least he owed her was an answer, and so he had.

He could hear the note of surprise in her voice when he had answered her call, and the fact that he _had_ considered not responding - for however short a time - shamed him. She deserved better, so much more than a person who couldn't... wouldn't even give her a single promise. Yet, when she had spoken with such sweet longing for him in her tone, if not her words, a giddy rush of elation had coursed through him.

Which was exactly why, when she dropped the news of her impending marriage on him, it had felt like a dousing splash of ice-cold water in his face.

He lifted his head an inch from the table surface, then let it fall again.

_I see. Do I have the honor of knowing the bridegroom?_

If he did, the man's life would be a living hell for the next couple of months; Asgard months.

_I congratulate you. _

He wasn't the God of deception for nothing.

_Is he good to you?_

For her sake, he hoped that her choice of... spouse **was** good to her. For his own, he would be perfectly happy if she couldn't stand even being around her husband-to-be.

Then, her voice, so hesitant. _So, are you all coming?_

He had barely managed to keep from exploding then. Go to her wedding... So he could see Mayura and some faceless man cuddling and toasting to their marriage?

Gritting his teeth, he had gotten out an even refusal, and he could _see _her wilt on the other end. And he had wanted so badly to hold her tight, engagement or no engagement.

When he had ended the conversation, his voice under admirable control, he had addressed her by her family name. Something which he had never done, not even from the first time they had met.

Perhaps it had simply been an act of petty spite, to try to show her that he didn't care. Perhaps he had wanted to put more distance between them. Perhaps he had thought that by retaining formality, the pain would seem more... remote, somehow.

However it was, he knew it had wounded her. Just as it had wounded him.

He groaned again, the sound muffled by the varnished wood.

He had no right to her, had no claim on her, had given her nothing, not even his presence... And he was well aware of it. So what kind of selfish bastard was he to want her to remain faithful to him, when he refused to commit himself to her?

Six years; she had stayed free and unbound for six long years. Was it not enough?

And he knew the answer to that before the thought even completed itself.

But it was too late. Far too late for regrets, to want to do things all over again.

Drowning himself in a bathtub full of cold water was suddenly a very appealing idea, just then.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Meanwhile, even as the god indulged in some private moping in his personal space, his children and Ecchan were huddled together in a secluded room in their huge mansion.

It was Fenrir who first broke the silence.

"Daddy's got it **_bad_**."

And that single, solemn statement seemed to sum up the situation perfectly.

Yamino volunteered, "Yes, I think so, too."

The floating marshmallow of a shikigami nodded her head vigorously. "Loki-tama..."

They contemplated their plight for a while.

Again, Fenrir spoke up. (What were older siblings for, but to provide constructive insight during times of crisis?) "I think we need help."

"... The Norns?"

They looked at each other for a moment, before all three broke out into smiles.

"Agreed."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Later that day, when Sol was just casting her last rays over the pastures of Asgard, there was a crisp knocking on Loki's study door.

He raised his head bemusedly. "Come in."

To his surprise, in marched all three goddesses of fate; Urd looking enigmatic, Verdandi wearing an expression of sinister smugness, and Skuld dragging her feet behind her and looking extremely reluctant.

He smiled politely, although his eyes were questioning. "Welcome... And to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

Verdandi smiled innocently back at him. The smile which always made him feel like a favorite lab specimen being examined... Not that he would ever admit as much to anyone other than himself.

Suppressing a vague unease, he rose. "Is something the matter?"

Verdandi's smile grew, if possible, even more innocuous. "Loki-sama, do you think we could borrow the scrying mirror we gave you, just for a little while?"

Skuld added sulkily, "We need it to monitor the situation of a person on Midgard."

He eyed them with a certain suspicion. "A human, you say? Can you not scry using your own powers?"

"As a matter of fact, no. The person in question is rather heavily guarded by runes of a special sort, and we _really _need the additional assistance to be able to scry on this particular human." Urd interjected smoothly.

The explanation had come quickly; too quickly, in his opinion. His suspicion sharpened immediately into downright wariness... But since there was really no way he could refuse their request without calling their bluff, he walked over to the mantle place and - much against his better judgment - retrieved the precious mirror.

He turned, only to suffer a chill of foreboding down his spine when he saw the Norns appraising him in an almost predatory fashion. Fighting down a sense of impending doom, he smiled in his most winning manner.

"Yes?"

Urd swept forward sedately, and he pushed down a craven urge to flee.

Placing her hand on the glass, she offered him a cheerful smile. "Think of this as a... reward, Loki-sama."

There was a brief wrenching of realities, and his last, wild thought as he sank inexorably into the darkness was...

_Someone. is going to. **PAY**._

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_Authoress : This is the sequel I mentioned in Sayonara. Now, before I disappoint anyone of you, I shall lay down a few ground rules._

_ 1) I will not be dealing with Ragnarok. This is simply because I will have another fic centering around it, and it's so boring writing the same thing twice, ne? Just take it as... uhh... Loki somehow managed to resolve the issue, ok/twiddles her thumbs/  
_

_2) I'm not particularly worried about trifling details like money, since the anime isn't, either._

_3) This fic is /nothing/ but sap. It's about Loki, and Mayura, and precious little else. In other words, don't expect much... uhh... logic. /smiles sheepishly/  
_

_4) Yes, I will introduce Mayura's fiancé. Yes, he will be my own character. No, I won't go in-depth with his career/personality/etc. Same for Mayura. I **might** do a side-story sort of thing involving them, though.  
_

_And that's about it. Please, I welcome any kind of critique at all, although I love praise, too. /wags tail and sparkles/ Review? Please?_

_Disclaimer : Matantei Loki Ragnarok and its characters do not belong to me._


	2. Of jealousy and swings

All in all, Loki was _not_ pleased.

After that little fiasco in his study, he had woken up in (surprises!) Midgard.

In the branches of a most unobliging tree, with his entire body aching and sore from where the twigs had chafed and prodded at him.

**_And_** stuck in a child's form again... _For the second time that decade!_

Then, while his true inclinations had lain towards the going-back-NOW-and-wreaking-Holy-Vengeance-on-the-Norns sort of thing, he had been forced to desist due to the impossibility of such a course of action. Instead, he did what he never did.

He swore.

Hard, viciously, and at great length, in the many different languages he had picked up during his wanderings.

Knowing the Norns, they were probably tracking his every move using that same damned scrying mirror; and he rather hoped, in a grimly perverse kind of way, that they were, indeed, tuning in on his current torrent of obscenities... The words he was using would have made even Thor blanch, and the thunder god wasn't exactly one of the most delicate Aesir around.

It was, without a doubt, a most inadequate revenge... But at that point in time, Loki was content to take what victories he could get.

In fact, for all he knew, his children were watching as well, and although a paternal part of him balked at letting them listen to such unutterables, another more vengeful part _wanted _them to see what their scheming - for he was sure of that - had reduced their father to.

And, although he had no earthly way of knowing it at the time, he was right; on both counts.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

"... Loki-sama _does _have a rather... ah... varied vocabulary, doesn't he?"

Twisting in her seat, Verdandi surveyed the room's occupants.

Fenrir was cowering on the floor, his paws clamped firmly over his ears, tiny whimpers of denial issuing periodically from his throat. His younger brother, on the other hand, had a glazed look to his eyes, and was trying, without notable success, to cover their pet shikigami's floppy ears.

Urd was sipping tea calmly in the corner, although the whiteness of her knuckles as she gripped her cup's delicate handle told entire _volumes_.

Skuld had long since left the room, mumbling something about needing fresh air for a while.

Verdandi eyed them for a little longer, and then turned back to the mirror, propped up by a make-shift stand of stacked books.

At a particularly vile expletive, Urd's eyebrow twitched, and she rose elegantly, all but slamming her teacup back onto its saucer.

"Enough."

The Goddess of the Past stalked over to the mirror.

"Urd onee-sama?"

"It's about **_time_** something actually got accomplished, don't you think?"

Verdandi smiled.

"Of course, Urd onee-sama."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

"Little boys shouldn't be swearing like that, you know?"

Loki turned at the sound of an unfamiliar, deeply male voice behind him.

The owner of the voice was looking at him appraisingly, one eyebrow raised. _Ah, yes. The whole little-boy thing._

Before he could react, the man had closed the distance between them with three long strides. Stooping, he patted Loki on the head.

"Are you lost?" _No, I just got thrown out of the highest plane of existence... again._

He managed to give the brown-haired man a composed smile. "No, I'm not."

The man looked disbelieving. "Then what are you doing out here, cursing like a pirate? Come to think of it, where did you learn _that _many swear words from, anyway?"

"Here and there." Loki dismissed the matter with a relaxed shrug of his shoulders.

"I see." The man regarded him with a marked skepticism, but let the vague and distinctly un-childlike answer pass without comment.

After a brief, awkward silence, Loki smiled lightly. "If you'll excuse me...?"

"Whoa, wait. Where are your parents? They can't possibly have just left you here, can they?"

Loki weighed his options for an instant, before finally settling upon a tactical skirting of the truth. "They're not... with me, right now."

Wrong answer.

The man frowned. "They let you wander the streets alone? At night?"

Loki _definitely_ didn't like the sudden gleam in the man's eyes. "Actu..." He began. The man nodded smartly to himself, as if coming to a decision, and straightened.

"Well, I can't let you go traipsing off by yourself, so you'll just have to come with me." He grinned at Loki.

_Great. _"No, I'll be fine."

Catching the momentary expression of consternation on Loki's face, the man looked surprised for a second, then started as a completely erroneous light of comprehension dawned in his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'm just bringing you to the local police station, so... " He paused, then added helpfully and completely irrelevantly, "Besides, I'm going there anyway."

Loki stared balefully at him, not feeling at all in charity with sandy-haired men at the moment. Stressing each word with a barely leashed irritation, he repeated, "Thank you, but I will be fine... _by_ _myself._"

His antagonizer looked indulgently amused. "A kid like you?"

Loki's eyes glinted. In a way which somehow managed to convey a weighty promise of very painful retribution.

Unfortunately though, there apparently _were_ humans as dense as Mayura.

Oblivious to the pint-sized god's almost palpable air of menace, the man - having declared his intentions in no uncertain terms - took Loki's hand in a dismally no-nonsense manner and started to drag him purposefully down the street.

"Wai..."

The man cut him off cheerfully, "I'm Niiyama Keiichi, by the way. You would be?"

_Niiyama...? _

Just when the name snapped into place, he heard an extremely familiar voice. One he had heard just two days ago, in fact.

"Keiichi-kun!"

_... Those Norns are **really **enjoying this, aren't they?_

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

Urd smiled in smug satisfaction. "Now, that's more like it."

"Beautifully done, Urd onee-sama."

"Why, thank you."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

He heard her breathing halt for one confused instant.

"Loki-sa... kun?"

Inwardly vowing many extremely Bad-Things on the Goddesses of Fate in the near future, he turned to face her.

"Hello, Mayura."

She blinked rapidly, as though she didn't quite believe her own eyes. Eyes luminous with bewilderment.

"Why..."

He gazed at her, his chest constricting painfully. Age had mellowed her; replaced a little of the brashness of her youth with the wisdom that came with experience. And although her previous naivety still shimmered around her like a cloak of light, he could see that same wisdom tempering it, softening it.

He didn't miss the simple band of silver encircling the third finger of her left hand, either.

Hesitantly, she smiled at him. "Loki... -kun?"

He bristled at the sound of his name on her lips. Not at the familiarity of it; but because he hated the way she said his name so tentatively, when before, she had called it with such natural ease. Hated the way she had thought of him as -sama first, and -kun second.

Through the host of emotions collecting in his throat, he managed to shrug resignedly. "I suppose you could say that I was persuaded to come."

Keiichi observed their exchange with a faint frown on his face. "Mayura?"

Startled out of her stunned preoccupation with Loki, she flushed, and turned to him.

"Umm... Keiichi-kun, this is Loki-kun. He's a... close friend." She paused for the briefest of times, then continued. "Loki-kun, this is..."

He interrupted her, the merest trace of belligerence in his voice. "We've been introduced."

"Oh." Her face cleared, flooding with an obvious relief; and that hurt, more than it had any business to.

To distract himself from the irrational emotion, he extended a hand to Keiichi, whose eyebrow had risen to astronomical heights. "Nice to meet you."

The man considered the proffered hand for a moment, then shook it. "Same here." Keiichi laughed suddenly. "And to think I was about to drag you off to the police station to prevent you from getting lost!"

She giggled, a little nervously. "I don't think Loki-kun would have liked that very much."

Bending down so that he was once again on eye-level with Loki, Keiichi smiled. "I suppose you came to attend our wedding tomorrow?"

It was, Loki knew, childish. Petty. Unsophisticated. None of which were qualities that he held with any regard... But at the moment, all he wanted to do, was to kick the man in the shins. Preferably hard enough to land him in the hospital for a couple of weeks; or at least till said wedding was over.

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

Mayura had come up to stand behind her husband-to-be. "Umm... Loki-kun... Where are you staying?"

He shrugged noncommittally. "At a hotel, I assume."

Keiichi eyed him dubiously. "You... assume?"

"I... really didn't make any plans before coming." _Hard to, when you didn't know that you **were** coming._

And, of course, he looked horrified by that. "Your parents didn't even bother to help you book a room!"

Loki spied Mayura out of the corner of his eye, looking like she was trying terribly hard not to laugh, and a vein throbbed at his temple. "I'm a rather _independent_," and here he shot her a thinly veiled glare, "sort."

"Still. You're just a child! They should **_know_** better than to let you wander around on your own like that..."

A muscle tightened imperceptibly in his jaw, and Mayura broke into a helpless fit of coughs, which sounded suspiciously like stifled giggles.

The man gazed at his fiancée in concern. "Are you okay?"

She waved her hand, still coughing/giggling.

Keiichi looked thoughtful. "Besides, it's not like you can book a hotel room without an adult's assistance..." (At which Loki looked extremely pointedly at the two adults standing before him, but had the good sense to remain silent.) After a spot of thinking, he smiled confidently, evidently having come up with a satisfactory solution. "In that case, why not stay over at our place?"

_... Our. I see._

Mayura interrupted hurriedly, with a guilty sort of explanatory air. "It's not really ours," she emphasized the word ever so slightly, "yet... Although... I was about to move in today."

In what he **hoped** was a placid tone, "I don't think I should impose."

Keiichi looked offended at the very idea. "You're Mayura's friend, right? Just think of it as a get-together, or something." Something else seemed to occur to him, and his forehead furrowed in a puzzled frown. "If you don't mind, how old are you, anyway?"

For a fleeting instant, Loki dwelt idly on the consequences of telling him the truth. Regretfully, he abandoned the idea; the man would probably have laughed in his face. Or patronized him, which would have been even worse... And he wasn't sure he could bear either from Mayura's betrothed. "... Ten." A reasonable age, for his current appearance.

"Oh." He looked highly dissatisfied at the answer. "Precocious, aren't you?"

Loki raised an eyebrow.

"I've known Mayura for almost 4 years, and since she's never told me about you... It's simple math."

"She's never told you about me?"

He shook his head. "Uh uh, not even once." At this, he threw Mayura a wondering glance, which said plainly, _Why?_

Mayura averted her eyes self-consciously, and his forehead creased further in perplexity. Nonetheless, when he turned back to Loki, he was smiling cordially. "And look at us, standing in the streets talking. C'mon; our apartment isn't too far from here."

_... Many, **many** Bad-Things. _"I can find accommodation easily enough elsewhere, I assure you." Loki asserted forcefully, in a tone which brooked absolutely no further argument.

Humans have _such _amazing powers of selective hearing, sometimes.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

Having just returned, Skuld looked hopefully at the mirror. "Do you think that Loki-sama will give up on Mayura-san now?"

Yamino, who had recovered his composure by then, reminded her tactfully, "**Y****_ou're_** the Goddess of the Future, Skuld-sama."

She pouted.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

Loki sighed.

It was, he reflected glumly, a sad day when the Norse god of Chaos and Fire was reduced to being in the position of having to play along with a mere human's whims.

Of having to play along with Mayura's fiancé's whims, to be precise.

Mayura had gone off to her father's shrine for the night, to say farewell to him and her old home properly. Which left him, alone, with Keiichi; who was, understandably, the very last person in the Nine Worlds whom he wanted to be in the company of, at the moment.

Keiichi, on the other hand, appeared to be positively _delighted_ to have an opportunity to pile question after uninterrupted question on him, and promptly took full advantage of the situation.

After the fifth time of dancing around yet another variation of "How did you get acquainted with Mayura?", the trickster god decided that enough was enough. Draining the rest of his tea as quickly as protocol and dignity would allow him to, he made to rise.

The phone rang.

"Excuse me?" Keiichi smiled apologetically at him as he picked up the call. "Hello, Niiyama residence... Misao-san?"

Loki's dwindling interest rebounded.

"Mayura? No, she's not here... What?"

He neatly appropriated the phone. "Mayura-papa?"

The voice on the other end of the line sounded baffled. "Huh? Who... **_YOU!_**"

Loki winced at the sheer volume of it, holding the receiver at arm-length, as her father burst out heatedly. "What have you done with Mayura, again!"

Cautiously, he brought the phone back to his ear. "Quite simply, nothing. And what's happened this time?" _Six years, and she still manages to get into trouble at the drop of a hat. One would think better of her... But then again, I suppose this __**is** Mayura we're talking about._

"Dammit, nothing good ever happens when you're around, does it?"

"Mayura-papa, you're not answering the question."

Begrudgingly, her father muttered in reply, "She's missing. No sign of her on the grounds, and no note or message, either."

"I see." Loki glanced at the clock; it read eleven o'clock.

The priest asked suspiciously, "You _really_ didn't have anything to do with it?"

He suppressed an impulse to sigh, and rubbed his temples instead. "No, I most definitely did not. Have you tried searching for her?"

"Only in the immediate vicinity. I thought she might have gone to Keiichi-san's place, so I came back to check first."

"Ah. In that case, I suggest you start searching again. We'll be heading out now, as well."

"Now, wait just one minute! What are you doing over there? Didn't you go back home?"

The telephone went a perky "be-ep" back at him.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

"That girl's _still _as ditzy as ever?" Fenrir stared at the scenes unfolding in the glass with an incredulous fascination.

"Nii-san! Ditzy is such an impolite word!"

Fenrir snorted derisively. "Would you prefer air-headed, then?"

"Well..."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

_Where was she?_

Although Mayura had a penchant **_and_** talent for getting into all sorts of scrapes, he knew very well that she was never one to make her father worry unduly. And as far as he was aware, no one from the pantheon had come down to Midgard recently...

Which only made her current escapade all the more unsettling.

"Wait... up!"

He turned to see Keiichi panting behind him, and stopped to allow the man a chance to catch his breath. When he was sufficiently recovered, Keiichi gave the four-foot boy a thoroughly contemplative look. "You've made quite the impression on Misao-san, haven't you?"

"We can talk about that later." Loki side-stepped the issue. "Right now, we need to find Mayura."

Keiichi sobered. "Yes, I guess we do. Do you know your way around here?"

"Fairly well."

"Then, can I ask you go that way? I'll take this side. I know I shouldn't be asking a child," his eyes bored into Loki's in an unnervingly perceptive manner, "to wander around this late, but..."

Loki gave him a very direct look. "I'm quite capable of taking care of myself, thank you."

Keiichi turned in the opposite direction. "I'm counting on you, then."

Loki watched his back recede into the darkness, then turned as well.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

"Loki-sama really is rather fond of Mayura-san, isn't he?" Verdandi commented brightly.

Skuld looked put-out. "Loki-sama's kind to everyone, not just her!"

Before the sisters could continue bickering, though, a high-pitched voice piped up from behind them. "Does Loki-tama know where to start looking?"

At this piece of insight, the other occupants of the room startled, and stared, surprised, at its unexpected source.

Ecchan simply hovered in the air, and looked guilelessly back at them.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

Meanwhile, having run fruitlessly and completely aimlessly around for some time, Loki was mentally berating himself for being a consummate fool. _What kind of detective doesn't even ask for the details of a case __**before** running out to solve it!_

He passed the park and caught a glimpse of her sitting on the swing, her head bowed, and breathed a quick prayer of gratitude. Feeling an odd sense of deja vu, he approached her carefully.

"Mayura?"

She started, and hurriedly stuffed something back into her pocket. "Loki-sama?"

Worry melted, to give way to anger. "What are you doing out here, so late?"

"I..." She flushed guiltily, her hand still in her pocket.

"You made your father worry, Mayura!" The vehemence of his own words shocked him... As did the overwhelming urge to just drag her into his arms and make sure that she was, indeed, unharmed.

She looked confusedly at him. "Papa? He knows I sneaked out?"

He nodded, not trusting himself to speak.

She began to rise for a moment, then sat back down. "I... don't want to go back. Yet."

He took a few steps closer. "Why?"

"... Because..."

"Stop mincing your words, Mayura. It's unbecoming." He got onto the swing next to her.

Instead of replying, though, she stared at the ground, her face pensive. "Ne, Loki-sama?"

That damned honorific again. "Yes?"

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. "Why did you come?"

"You didn't want me to come?"

"Yes... No. I don't know." She sighed in exasperation, her hand slipping back into her pocket to finger whatever was there again.

His mouth went dry at her answer. "I see the Norns wasted their efforts planning all this, then."

She looked curiously at him. "Norns?"

"Goddesses. They were the ones who forced me back down here, in this body."

"Oh." There was a note of something that rang vaguely of disappointment and hope in her voice.

Tension arced in the air around them.

Obviously casting around wildly for _anything_ to end the poignant silence between them, she blurted, "Did Ragnarok go well?" And as soon as she formed the words, her eyes widened in a way which made it quite apparent that she was very much aware of the sheer inanity of what she had just said.

There was another bout of silence, of an entirely different sort.

"... Mayura, was I supposed to answer that seriously?"

She reddened in embarrassment. "Woops?" she offered weakly.

They met each other's eyes at last, emerald to crimson, and laughed. And with that laugh, the tension broke, replaced by the easy companionship they had shared, so very long ago.

"Loki-kun," and he noted with gratification the return of her habitual use of the honorific, "Were you surprised to hear of my engagement?"

"... Yes." _Dumbstruck would have come closer. Flabbergasted, even. Stupefied._

Unconsciously, she rubbed the silver ring on her finger. "Keiichi-kun... He's... a nice person." Somehow, the way she said it made it sound almost as though she was trying to reassure herself, not him.

He tried to swallow the lump of jealousy that had collected in his throat. "Yes, he is."

She gazed into the night, her eyes faraway. And despite himself, he thought that she had never looked as beautiful as she did now, her crimson eyes soft and introspective, with the moonlight glowing around her in a gentle nimbus of light.

"Loki-kun... Are you really a god?"

The question surprised him, and he lifted an eyebrow. "You still doubt that?"

"Well... No, not really. It's just that..."

"That?" he prompted her.

Her face was a study in conflicting emotions. She shook her head, as though trying to dislodge them, and said, a wisp of sadness in her voice, "Nothing."

They relapsed into silence.

Suddenly, she laughed. "You should have seen me when Yamino-san told me that you were a god... I nearly went hysterical then!"

He smirked roguishly. "Why do you think I left it to Yamino-kun?"

She stuck out her tongue at him. "Mou, Loki-kun is so mean. You were the biggest mystery around, and you didn't even tell me! And when he told me that you were his _father,_ of all things..."

He grinned remorselessly at her. "Is that so hard to accept?"

She pouted. "You look like a child, Loki-kun. Of course it's hard to accept."

"Even after that little display in the park?" He arched an eyebrow at her.

She looked thoughtful. "Yeah. I just can't equate you," she motioned at him, "and... the other you." She gestured vaguely, at somewhere in front of her.

"Didn't you say that the... 'other me', so as to speak, reminded you of 'me'?"

He made out a faint heightening of color on her cheeks in the dim illumination. "Well, yes... But... You're alike, but at the same time, you're different." She stopped, searching for words. In a softer voice, "In this form, you look so... familiar. So safe. In your other..."

"I look unfamiliar and unsafe?" He cocked his head amusedly at her, but watched her intently.

She blushed furiously. "Not exactly. More of... You look... _feel_ so mysterious. Like you're on a different plane of existence. Like, right now," she reached out to sift her fingers through his hair, "I can touch you, but when you're in your real form..." She shook her head again, and withdrew her hand.

He ached to hold her close, to tell her that he was here. Would be here, for as long as she wanted. And he thanked the Norns for throwing him on Midgard in a child's body.

For, if he gave in to that impulse, he would never forgive himself.

She was right; they did live on different planes of existence. And he had vowed never to forget that simple fact. For their own sakes.

Then, why did it feel like his heart was being ripped out by some unseen hand?

She looked at him, directly. "Loki-kun, can I ask you a question?"

Pulled back from his reverie, he blinked once, and shrugged. "Go ahead."

"Why didn't you take my memories when you left?"

Correction: Ripped out, and fed to Garm, while he watched.

His chest squeezed. "I don't know."

He looked up to see her frowning at him. "Don't lie to me, Loki-kun. Please."

At the sight of her expectant, hopeful face, he found himself unable to do even that most basic of things. "... Because I didn't want to."

"Oh." She was quiet for a while, mulling that succinct answer over. Then, she got to her feet.

"I'm glad." She smiled at him, and extended a hand. "Thank you, Loki-kun. For letting me remember you."

His spirits crashed to the ground.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAV**

_Authoress : _

_cleaeverlasting > Don't worry, I don't want Mayura to be married to anyone else either. :) _

_manda-chan > Thank you so very much! And please, do continue your Curiosity Killed the Cat! XD I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to its next chapter /wags tail appealingly/  
_

_I've realized that I really rather like thinking up fluffy waffy dialogue. /snickers maniacally/ I could think of less pleasant ways to pass the time...  
_

_Maybe one day I should do a side-story on Yamino-kun breaking the news to Mayura. >D It'd be fun to write, if nothing else.  
_

_I'm rambling, aren't I? Ah well. Anyway, Keiichi was... well... a mistake. I really didn't mean to make him perceptive. /shifty eyes/ He was supposed to be kind of... absent-minded. But I guess a guy like that couldn't manage to win Mayura over, ne? Imagine a timid little boy trying to give Mayura flowers... Mmm. It'd be a strange courtship, to say the least. :P  
_

_Mayura is slightly OOC here; Or actually, she appears to be more manga-Mayura, than anime-Mayura. Please, just pretend she's older and wiser. /gives an absolutely blinding smile/_

_And... although this may seem wierd coming from myself, when I read over this piece, I can't help but feel that Yamino-kun should be popping popcorn. O.o  
_


	3. Never too late

She wanted to... _remember _him.

Implying that he was - or would be - nothing more than a memory to her. A mere collection of pictures and sounds and scenes in her head, to be cherished as something precious, but by-gone.

Perhaps it was better this way... That he should fade slowly away from her heart, from her life. After all, wasn't that what he had wanted when he had asked Verdandi to create that hairpiece?

He clenched his fist, staring at his own reflection in the mirror, the rays of the rising sun casting it in shadow.

That, he decided, was the biggest lie he had ever said in his life.

He _didn't_ want her to get over him. Didn't want her to... think of him in the past tense. Ever.

_That_ was the reason why he hadn't taken her memories of him. The reason why he had told Yamino-kun to explain the truth to her... The reason why he had given her the earring which could connect their two worlds momentarily. Had hoped that by doing so, he could make her keep him in her heart and bind her to him, in some inexplicable way.

He smiled mirthlessly.

Because he had known, deep down inside, that she, in all her innocence and mortality and eagerness for life, had bound _him_ to her, as surely as he wanted to bind her to him.

He closed his eyes as he finally allowed himself to put into words what he had known for so long.

The Norse god of Chaos and Fire was... in love.

With a human girl.

Who was about to get married, that very same day.

He could almost have laughed at the absurdity of it all, except that the pain was threatening to engulf him, and he found himself blinking back a burning prickling at the back of his eyes instead.

Too late for regrets, indeed.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Yamino stared, teary-eyed, at the mirror. "Loki," he blew his nose noisily into a long handkerchief, "-sama..." Above his head, Ecchan wailed unhappily, her own tears pattering down on Yamino's head.

"Che." Fenrir looked away from the mirror, his pose one of disdain. "For that silly girl?" The way he turned his head carefully away from the others was terribly suspicious, however.

Even Skuld seemed to be holding back tears, although she was scowling crossly at nothing in particular.

Urd and Verdandi exchanged a grave nod. Standing up and giving her skirt a few demure pats, Verdandi announced, "I guess that's my cue."

Waving at the rest of them, she touched the mirror and shimmered. And when the rippling light had died away, she was gone.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"Loki-sama."

The trickster god's head snapped up, his eyes narrowing in recognition. "Verdandi."

They regarded each other wordlessly for a second.

His voice was cool and emotionless as he spoke. "Another prediction, I assume?"

Verdandi shook her head. "No."

"No?"

She lifted her bell; and at its tinkling, a large, scintillating orb of blood-red fell into Loki's hands. He contemplated it for a while, then raised an inquiring look to the Goddess of the Present.

"This time, _you_ have to make your own future, Loki-sama." She scrutinized him, her expression unreadable.

He lowered his gaze back to the jewel of jaki, and when he next met her eyes, his own were filled with a renewed fire. "... I see."

Her answering smile, this time, was one of ageless wisdom. "However, remember this, Loki-sama. Fate will allow one only so many chances, before she passes her final judgment."

He smirked at her. "Did I not say, once, that I don't believe in fate?"

She laughed. "So you did, Loki-sama." Giving him a thoroughly mischievous smile, she asked, "Do you like our reward?"

He grinned.

She laughed again, and the air around her shimmered.

Her last words, carried on a breath of wind, floated to his ears. "Good luck, Loki-sama."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Mayura stared blankly at herself in the mirror, clad in a wedding gown of virginal white.

_I'm marrying Keiichi-kun. _

The words thundered through her, as though they were a life sentence. And in a way, they were.

The charm which contained the pieces of Loki's earring hung around her neck on a thin cord, its slight weight heavy on her breast.

Nearly a month ago, when she had called out to him, and he had declined - so coolly - her invitation, she had wept. Wept because that chapter of her life was, she thought, irrevocably and at long last, closed.

Then, he had appeared. As suddenly as he had the first time, and with as little warning.

And she had become confused all over again.

Reaching out a hand, she touched the veil of gauzy chiffon lying on the dresser. As her fingers ran absently through its stiff folds, she recalled the shock that had barraged through her when she had seen him in his child's form next to Keiichi.

Shock, and something else which she could not name.

_Dared_ not name.

Not when she was this close to proclaiming herself Keiichi's.

She trembled at the thought. _Keiichi-kun's. Not Loki-kun's._

She nearly choked on **that** idea. It was laughable. Loki-kun was a god! There was no way he could want to... Even if...

Just two days ago, she would have been perfectly content to wed Keiichi. Happy, even. Now...

She wasn't so sure.

Drawing a deep breath, she shook herself mentally. _Keiichi-kun is a good man, _she told herself firmly. _He's been faithful to me for four years, stayed by me even when I rejected him. Helped me through the times when... Loki-kun wasn't..._

Why was it that those thoughts weren't in the least comforting now?

Why _now_?

Lost in her ruminations, Mayura failed to notice the slight rumble of swooning whispers outside her bedroom door. Failed to hear the door sliding open. Failed to see a young, devilishly handsome man step into her room...

Which was why, when she heard him call her name in that oh-so-familiar voice, she started, and turned to look disbelievingly at him.

"Loki-sama?"

"Loki-_kun_," he corrected, smiling at her.

As he stood before her, his deep green eyes dancing with the same impish blitheness as they had on that final day six years ago, she felt light-headed. Rallying with an effort, she blinked, disconcerted, at him. "Why are you..."

The smile faded slightly. "I needed to talk to you about something."

"Some... thing?"

She was staring, she knew. Helplessly, she traced him with her eyes, drinking him in; and he didn't seem fazed by the examination at all. Instead, Loki surveyed her just as thoroughly, a slight frown tugging at his lips, and she felt an irrational urge to cover herself. Preferably with something that could hide her face, as well.

Abruptly, he strode over to her and took her hand. "Come."

The word was a command, and she found herself stumbling after him, powerless against the compelling mastery of his voice and touch. As he pulled her past the stunned helpers, she managed to gather enough of her reeling wits to ask, "Why?"

He glanced back at her, his eyes scorching with a barely suppressed anger, and replied tersely, "I'll tell you later."

Mayura shivered.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Fenrir barked with delight, his tail thumping on the floor. "That's Daddy for you! Kidnapping the girl on her wedding day; in full sight of everyone, no less!"

Skuld's eyes burnt a hole into the back of Fenrir's head. "I fail," she glared balefully at him, "to see what's so **AMUSING** about the whole thing, Fenris!" She seemed to struggle with herself for a while, then burst into tears.

Verdandi patted her sister's back soothingly, and shrugged resignedly at Urd.

Urd simply looked back at her, a satisfied smile on her lips.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Amazingly enough, while they had had a great number of gawking spectators, none of the handmaidens had seen fit to inform her father, nor even to halt their progression out of the temple.

When they had gotten outside the shrine's gateway - with what seemed to be three-quarters of the temporary helpers hanging onto their every action - Loki had flagged down a cab. Some corner of Mayura's brain which wasn't in riotous turmoil recalled something about Loki-kun _hating_ cars, and accordingly, she had opened her mouth to ask, only to have him bundle her into the backseat.

Then, he had gotten in next to her; and while he had immediately begun to look nauseous, he had given her a Look, which told her, quite plainly, not to even _try_.

And so, she had shut her mouth, and fidgeted uneasily in silence all the way to wherever it was that Loki-kun had had in mind.

Yet... There had been no real fear. Only a trepid anticipation, and the **_certainty_** that something was about to change. Something which had lain buried for far too long in the depths of her soul.

Finally, the cab pulled up alongside a hotel. Looking vastly relieved, Loki paid the driver (who was looking askance at the incongruous sight of a man dragging what was obviously a bride-to-be with him, _from _a wedding, and who had even gone so far as to venture a question, only to be quelled by an intimidatingly affable smile), and still holding her hand firmly in his, led her into the hotel.

And much to her own astonishment, Mayura discovered that she was quite content to let him do so.

She hesitated; then, walking faster so that he was no longer dragging her at arm's length, entwined her fingers with his. At that simple gesture of trust, Loki looked surprised at her for a moment, before his expression softened, and he smiled.

She smiled tremulously back, and he slowed to better accommodate her pace.

"Ne, Loki-kun...?"

"Yes?"

"Why..."

He stopped the words with a finger. "Shh. I'll tell you later." Only this time, his voice was gentle, and he was smiling at her, his eyes filled with an fiery brightness.

She frowned petulantly at him, and he laughed softly.

A valet came forward, and at an imperious nod from Loki, ushered them to a room.

He sat her on the single chair in the tastefully furnished room. "Stay here, Mayura." When she nodded in assent, he ruffled her hair, and left to deal with the counter staff.

Now, left alone, her mind having finally managed to sort itself out, the full understanding of what she was doing hit her in its entirety. _Keiichi-kun... I left Keiichi-kun there! And Papa... _Fighting down a rising panic, she rose, at the very same moment that Loki returned.

He frowned at the sight of her standing. "Mayura, I told you to stay there."

She shook her head erratically. "Keiichi-ku..."

Anger flashed for a brief instant in his eyes, and he stalked forward, till he was just in front of her. And while she had never thought of herself as being particularly short before, she couldn't help but think, rather irrelevantly, that he positively _towered_ above her.

He caught her chin in his hand, and tilted it up to him. "That's part of what I want to talk to you about."

The words were ground out through gritted teeth, and she cowered instinctively under the force of his anger. Sensing her sudden fear, his grip changed. Gently, he sat her back down onto the chair, and knelt. "Mayura..."

He paused, his face indecisive and hesitant; two emotions that Mayura least expected from him. And unable to stop herself, she giggled.

His lips curved in wry amusement as he watched her. "What's so funny?"

Still giggling madly, she waved around her. "This. You. Everything."

"Really, now?"

She nodded, her helpless giggles taking on an edge of hysteria. "Me getting married, you coming back so suddenly after six years,_ still_ _looking like a child,_ then turning back into your... your true form, then..." And to her mortification, she realized that she was crying.

He rose in front of her.

Unable to stop herself from babbling, she continued even as she shrunk frantically away from him. "Then taking me away from... from my wedding, then bringing me here, then..."

He pulled her up and into the shelter of his arms.

"Loki-kun, no..."

She felt him press his lips against her hair, and tuck her head securely under his chin. And in a soft, fervently passionate voice, "I love you, Mayura."

Such simple words.

She broke before them, and folding herself into him, sobbed like a broken-hearted child.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Having borne witness to Loki's declaration, the room's occupants were silent for a while.

Yamino cleared his throat. "Umm... What say all of you that we go down to the dining room for some cake?" He smiled hopefully around at the others, who were unusually subdued.

Urd glanced at Skuld, who looked pale, and nodded decisively. "Yes, I'd say that would be a good idea."

Fenrir promptly trotted out of the room without a single word, and they filed out after his lead obediently.

None of them returned for quite some time.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_I love you, Mayura._

It stunned him, how easily he had said it. How _honestly._

And as he cradled her in his arms, absorbing the trembling of her body as she cried, he knew it was true. Terrifyingly so.

He really hadn't begun the embrace with any sense of calculation; to be totally frank about it, he hadn't planned much beyond booking a hotel room, and getting her there, to have their talk in private. Hadn't even - a chill went through him - thought of what he would do if she... rejected him.

He felt her shuddering abate, and her sobs dwindle to sporadic hiccups. Cautiously, he loosened his arms about her. "Mayura?"

She wrapped her arms around him and shook her head.

He immediately gathered her closer.

After a while, she said, her voice muffled by his clothes, "... I'm an awful woman, aren't I?"

He stroked her pink hair. "What makes you think so?"

She sniffled. "I left Keiichi-kun at the altar. I bet everyone's looking for me now..."

A sharp stab of annoyance went through him at her fiancé's name, and sliding his fingers under her chin, he forced her to look at him. "That name is the one thing that I _will not_ tolerate in this conversation, is that quite clear?"

She set her mouth in a stubborn line. "Keiichi-kun is a good person! He deserves better than... than this."

They glared at each other for a moment, before he sighed in defeat. "Yes, I guess so. As much as I hate to admit it."

She bit her lower lip, and her gaze dropped. "Loki-kun... Was... what you said... true?"

Bending his head, he kissed her swiftly. "Do you want more proof?" He grinned wickedly at her, his smile as irresistible as it was bent on seduction.

She blushed.

"I'll take that as a yes."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_Authoress : I'm not terribly confident of this chapter. Meh. Anyway, LokiMayu fluff!_

_clea everlasting > Aww, don't say that... I'm glad that you read and review, and thank you!_

_Pure Essence > Ah. Did this chapter answer your concerns:3_

_Loki Girl > Thank you for the reassurance. Just thank you, really. :)  
_

_Asteri-chan > Ahaha... I **hope** that Loki will remain in-character... /huge boulder of stress crushes down on her head/ I don't know, I find Loki-kun easier to write than Mayura. XD It's so hard to write her without making her 1) idiotic 2) ditzy 3) comical. I have a Christmas fic ready which features her in a much less serious role, and she's easier to write there. Muchies. >.> Oh, and I'll see what I can do about the Yamino fic, too. :3 Ah! And I want to read your fic as well! No pressure, of course. ;)_

_Aoko-chan > Thank you! Ahaha... seems a number of people want to read it... O.o_

_Manda-chan > Keiichi, ka... Actually, he almost feels like a less sarcastic Loki-kun/Koutarou-kun combined. >.> I'm not entirely sure the side-story will be humor, or not totally. Probably quite a bit of angst, as well. :o_

_Kuro1107 > Thank you:)  
_

_Inari > Whee! Another LM fan! It seems that the MaLoki pairing-fan community is ninety percent made up of either LM, or LokiHeimdall. :3 _

_Ehm. I'm thinking of changing all the VAVAVA linebreaks I've been using so far to the rule break that fanfiction net offers. Maybe I'll go back and do over the previous chapters with the rule breaks..._

_Can't think of anything decent to say now, so I'll leave off here.  
_


	4. Learning to trust

They kissed, for a long while.

When they finally broke apart, her eyes were glazed and unfocused, but there was a dreamy smile touching her lips. Hungrily, he gazed down at her, devouring the sight of her in his arms... Where he had so badly wanted her to be, for so long.

She sighed blissfully, and buried her face in the hollow of his throat. "I love you, Loki-kun."

His chest constricted, not unpleasantly, and his grip tightened around her. Reverently, he brushed his lips across her temple and then shifted, settling her further into his embrace. In a voice he barely recognized as his own, he whispered, "I know."

He felt her smile against his neck. "That sounds so _conceited_, Loki-kun."

He laughed, the sound so joyful it startled even himself. "You love me anyway, don't you?" He grinned into her hair, elation thrumming headily in his veins.

"Mmm." She agreed happily, burrowing into his chest. Suddenly, she stiffened, and started to draw away, before he stopped her. "Mayura?"

Her eyes searched his worriedly. "We... shouldn't be doing this. I mean..."

He tensed, but said teasingly, "What, having second thoughts so soon?"

She paused for a second, then relaxed back into his arms with a contented sigh. "No. No, I'm not. _At all_, Loki-kun." Her voice rang with such exuberance that he felt the thrill of it in his very blood.

She was _his. _

And he'd be damned if he gave her up. To anyone. And least of all, to her fiancé.

"You'd better hope not." He leaned his forehead against hers, so that he was looking directly into her eyes, and let a feral smile curl the corners of his lips. "Because you're _never_ escaping me now, you silly girl."

She flushed deeply at the firm assertion, and giggled. "I never knew that Loki-kun was so possessive."

"To be perfectly honest, neither did I," he admitted candidly. "But I suppose I should have guessed. _All g_ods are possessive... especially with things," he arched an eyebrow meaningfully at her, "that we consider our own."

She wrinkled her nose at him, then sobered. "That's the problem. You're a _god_, Loki-kun. We can't..."

Her resistance was cut short when he kissed her fiercely, deeply.

He lifted his head, and breathed, a little shakily, into her ear, "Yes, we _can._ We'll find a way to, somehow."

She gazed at him for a bit, and then smiled tenderly. Reaching up to caress his jaw, she said softly, her voice holding an absolute conviction, "Yes, I think so too."

His confidence soared at the complete trust he saw in her eyes, and stooping down, he claimed her mouth in a passionate kiss.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Verdandi sipped her tea.

Her sisters had returned to their home at the foot of Yggdrasil, Urd escorting the still-pale Skuld. She, on the other hand, had decided to stay and make sure that everything went all right between Loki-sama and Mayura-san.

An amused smile on her face, she watched the trickster god's children and shikigami having their tea. (She had been pleasantly surprised by how well Jormungand cooked; one would have expected a certain amount of... ineptitude from the World Serpent in matters of domesticity.)

Or to be more precise, _attempting_ to have their tea. The expectation hovering in the air was almost painfully tangible, and she was pretty sure that they would snap under it. Soon.

She was right.

Fenrir, having gazed unseeingly at his cake for a time, barked suddenly in frustration. "This is so _boring_!"

Verdandi traced the rim of her cup delicately with one fingertip. "Why, Fenris. You could always go back upstairs and take a look at the mirror. I'm certain you'd find it... entertaining."

He looked, mortified, at her and flushed, as well as a black-furred puppy could. Flopping back onto his hind-end, he released a dog-equivalent of a sigh.

Verdandi smiled secretly behind her cup as silence descended on the room.

Yamino fidgeted uncomfortably. "Verdandi-sama..." He began hesitantly. Breaking off, he took a deep breath. "Do you think that Loki-sama is..." he glanced nervously at the ceiling, "well..."

She stared contemplatively at the red liquid swirling in the white china. "Let's just say that we should probably be glad that the walls are thick."

He slumped. "... You really think so? I'm sure that even Loki-sama wouldn't be so... well... on her _wedding day_..." He floundered.

Pointedly, Verdandi reminded him, "He's _your_ father, Jormungand."

He thought this over for a while.

Clearly coming to a conclusion, he sighed, and shook his head.

Verdandi, Weaver of the Present, smiled, in a distinctly evil sort of way.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Loki's mouth was persuasive and demanding, but gentle, and Mayura gave herself up to him with an infinite delight.

She had never felt so... so alive. So effortlessly and deliriously happy; so natural, and glorious in her own right. It had never been like this, not with Keiichi-kun...

The last ounce of logic left to her in the face of Loki's assault snagged on that. _Keiichi-kun._ Her lips parted under his to ask him about it, but taking it as an invitation, his tongue slid into her mouth, sending her remaining wits scattering in chaotic retreat.

As he took her mouth, possessed it with such exquisite finesse, she found herself involuntarily winding her arms around his neck, her hands fisting in his soft auburn hair. Loki groaned sharply against her lips.

Trailing his lips hotly against her skin to the place just below her left ear, he murmured hoarsely into her ear, "As much as I'd like to take this further..."

He pulled away, kissing her palms as he disengaged them from around his neck, smiling with a supremely satisfied air when she whimpered protestingly in her throat.

Mayura blushed a vivid pink when her senses had cleared enough to process what she was doing. "Loki-kun?"

"First, we have to deal with Mayura-papa, do we not?" His expression darkened as he added, "And Keiichi, as well."

Somehow, hearing Loki put it into words etched the whole surreal situation into harsh lines of reality, and her eyes widened with dismay.

He watched her, his emerald eyes searching. Gently, almost tentatively, he asked, "What do you want to do about this? About us?" His hand stroked her back, the touch soothing. "I'll respect your decision."

Mayura looked up at him, and her half-formed doubts melted. "I want to be with Loki-kun."

He smiled, with not a little relief, and laid a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Good."

"But..."

He cocked his head at her. "But?"

She shook her head mutely. Glancing up at him, she saw him frown, and hastened to explain. "Keiichi-kun will be so angry... And Papa..."

She giggled at the momentary irritation that glinted in his eyes. She sighed, and rested her head against his chest again, listening to his steady heartbeat under her ear. "Loki-kun gets jealous so easily."

"I guess I do." He laughed unrepentantly, and slipped his arms loosely around her. "I could get used to this," he mused.

She snuggled blissfully, reveling in the sheer joy of being in his arms; of being **his**. "Me too."

He laughed again, the rumbling of it vibrating in her own body. "You aren't getting off that easily, Mayura."

"Mou..."

Releasing her, he pinched her nose lightly. "I meant that, you little goose. We're going to have to face your father and... ex-fiancé sooner or later."

She made a face at him, then replied just as seriously. "I _know_, Loki-kun. But I want to be with you, anyway." She smiled at the glimmer of emotion in his face. "I love you, Loki-kun." And she thought proudly that the words, now that she finally dared to speak them out loud, had such a _wonderful_ ring to them.

He kissed her again, the contact short and sweet, then prodded her forehead reprovingly. "And you can just stop encouraging me, Mayura. I don't think that returning you in... a different state of virtue would go over very well with your father; and we have quite enough on our plates as it is, don't you think?" He grinned impishly at her.

She felt her cheeks heating, but lifted her chin defiantly. "I'm not a child, Loki-kun. I can take care of myself!"

He pulled back and inspected her thoroughly, a smile of appreciation stealing over his face. "So I see."

There was just enough velvet in his voice to make her intensely conscious of the low cut of her gown, and she blushed deeply under his penetrating gaze. "Lo... Loki-kun is a pervert..."

His laughter, warm and amused, filled the room.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Urd returned to find an unusually solemn bunch around the table.

Of which - oddly enough - the only exception was Verdandi, who was enthusiastically praising Jormungand's culinary prowess to the high heavens.

Very suspicious.

"Why are all of you still down here?"

She _really_ hadn't been expecting the identical looks of marked consternation that both Fenris and Jormungand threw her way at that simple question.

After considering their faces for a while, she sighed resignedly and turned to her younger sister.

"Verdandi, what _did_ you tell them?"

She received a doe-eyed expression of absolute innocence. "Why, nothing, Urd onee-sama."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Loki braced himself.

Beside him, Mayura tensed as well, as the steps to the Shinto temple came into sight.

How in Frigg's name, he wondered gloomily, do you go about explaining to a girl's father that you intend to conduct a relationship with his daughter... On her wedding day?

In Asgard, he had never had to consider the consequences of his actions, and the idea of doing so now was definitely not sitting well with him. Yet... glancing down at Mayura, he knew it was worth it. For the chance of a future with her.

All too soon, they were at the foot of the stairs, and as he helped Mayura - still in the accursed wedding gown she had worn for Keiichi - out of the cab, he heard a collective ejaculation from behind them. "Mayura!"

She glanced up at him, her eyes anxious; and the idea that she instinctively turned to him for support rather pleased him. Squeezing her hand reassuringly, they turned to face her father and fiancé's family.

"Mayura!" Her father advanced on her, his face a mask of concerned fury. "Where _were _you! And who is this... man?"

At the same time, Keiichi came forward. "Mayura?" His voice was even, but there was an undercurrent of hurt in it. "Why did you...?"

Mayura bit her lip and let her eyes fall to the ground. "Keiichi-kun... I..."

Keiichi glanced at Loki, his eyes narrowing slightly. "You would be?"

Loki grandly disregarded the question. "Niiyama, I am sorry to say that Mayura will not be marrying you." And for the life of him, he could not stop the slightest shade of triumph from creeping into his voice.

Behind him, Niiyama-inspector spluttered in disbelief, while Keiichi's gaze darted quickly from him, to Mayura, then back to him. "And why?" Those two words carried an erupting animosity, the full force of which was directed at him.

Mayura blurted out impulsively, "Keiichi-kun, I'm... I'm sorry!"

He spared her a fleeting look, then returned to his scrutiny of the god. "You haven't answered either of my questions."

Loki groaned inwardly, but consigned himself to his fate. "My name is Loki Laufeyjarson."

The man's eyes widened in shock as he quite obviously made the connection. "Loki?"

He held Keiichi's stare squarely, and nodded.

"But you were just a kid!"

"Perceptive of you."

Keiichi's mother made to speak, but was stopped by her son. In a cold, collected voice, he inquired, "And what exactly made you undergo ten years of aging overnight?"

_I seem to be disclosing my secrets to a great deal of people lately, don't I? _"That is a matter which is better discussed in private."

Meanwhile, Misao had stomped over and grabbed hold of Mayura's arm. "Mayura, get away from that... that..." At a loss for words, the priest jerked her arm so hard that it brought tears of pain to her eyes. "Papa, wait!"

The man was quite certainly beside himself with rage, for he slapped her, the sound pronounced in the heavy twilight. "How _dare_ you, Mayura? After all that Keiichi-san has done for you?"

Mayura made no reply, her face averted from him.

Loki's emerald eyes blazed at the blow. "Daidouji-san, _no matter the circumstances_, no father should hit his daughter in public." He drew her to his side protectively, steel in his gaze.

Her father turned the full heat of his ire to Loki... and paled. "What the..."

"... I see you haven't lost your spiritual ability." Hastily, he recalled the shadows that had begun to stir around him, unbidden, at his anger.

The middle-aged Shinto priest stared at him, his mouth agape. "But... that is... you're..."

Keiichi interrupted impatiently, "If you don't mind, I would like to hear the entire story _now_, Laufeyjarson-san." Turning on his heels, he marched stiffly into the temple, which had been decorated for the wedding that was supposed to have taken place earlier that day. Now, the streamers hanging from the walls swayed almost dolefully in the breeze, their bright colors a depressing contrast to the taut atmosphere.

His parents, flabbergasted and plainly not having understood a single word of the exchange, hesitated for a moment before following.

Misao stalled, casting a last terrified look at Loki, then hurried after them.

Now alone in the courtyard, Loki let go of the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. Turning to Mayura, he touched her cheek gently, bringing her to face him. "Does it hurt?"

A single, wet tear spilled over his fingers. "I... Papa..."

He gazed down at her, not knowing how to apologize. Instead, he smoothed his palm over the stinging flesh, and brushed away her tears with his thumb. "It's too late to turn back, Mayura."

She nodded against his hand, then drew a shuddering breath. Looking up at him, she smiled quiveringly. "I don't regret this, Loki-kun."

He smiled back at her, his gut twisting with a biting mixture of guilt and jubilation. "Let's go."

Together, they crossed the shrine's grounds, into her home.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"A... god."

"Yes."

Keiichi looked incredulous, his fingers thudding restlessly against the wood. "And what kind of proof do you have?"

Loki met his eyes composedly from across the table. "What kind of proof would satisfy you?"

Their eyes locked in silent combat for an instant, two resolute wills clashing in an invisible battle of nuances. Next to him, Mayura's fingers tightened reflexively around his own.

Finally, Keiichi stepped back. "A suitably showy display of your powers, I suppose."

He gave her fiancé a dangerously brittle smile. "While my first response would be to ask what constitutes showy in your book, I shall hold off on that. Instead..."

Loki shrugged nonchalantly, and several balls of fire snapped into being, each hovering randomly around the room.

Mayura gazed with undisguised fascination at this first material manifestation of his powers; and much to his own astonishment, Loki discovered that he had been observing Mayura to see what her reaction to his capabilities would be. _And_ that her obvious delight was decidedly uplifting.

Keiichi looked taken aback with this new evidence, before his eyes narrowed. "A god of fire?"

_... He must have gotten desensitized from being around Mayura. _"Yes."

Misao broke in. "What the hell? I don't know any fire god by the name of Loki!"

"That would be because I'm not a _Japanese _god, Daidouji-san." Loki clarified tactfully.

The priest blinked confusedly. "Then, what are you?"

"Have you ever heard of the Norse pantheon?"

Keiichi smiled wryly, although the smile did not reach his eyes at all. "I see. So that's why Mayura has always been especially interested in Norse mythology."

Loki lifted an eyebrow at Mayura, who was flushing guiltily. "She was, was she?"

"Yes, although she steadfastly refused to talk to me about it. But we digress. The question is - and answer me _honestly_ this time, Laufeyjarson-san - where did you meet Mayura? And what do you aim to accomplish by stopping our marriage so suddenly?" A seething anger simmered in Keiichi's eyes, belying the calmness of his words.

"Umm..."

They all turned to look at Mayura, who was fiddling nervously with her cup of tea. "I..." She broke off, then tried again. "Six years ago, I met Loki-kun at the Enjaku Tanteisha." At this, Keiichi's father started, and leveled a finger at Loki.

"You're that kid detective who was always hanging around crime scenes, aren't you?"

The trickster god smiled charmingly at him. "Yes, I am. Mayura?" He prompted her encouragingly.

She smiled gratefully at him. "He had come down from Asgard - that's something like heaven - and he helped me with a case... And I sort of forced him to take me as his assistant."

Loki felt a twinge of nostalgic amusement, but kept his face straight.

"Anyway, uhh... a lot of things happened, and he had to go back to Asgard a few months later. And we didn't get in touch again till last month... and... umm..."

Exasperation and curiosity warred in Keiichi's face. The latter won out.

"What?"

"That's the barest bones of the matter, but yes, that's basically how I came to know Mayura." Loki saved her from another flustered explanation. "Due to some problems of my own, I was obliged to set up a detective agency, specializing in the occult, in your world. Which Mayura found quite by accident; and the rest is as you have heard."

Keiichi considered this painfully confusing explanation for a while, his eyebrows drawn forbiddingly together. Finally, he set his palms on the table, leaning forward aggressively. "And the most important question. What do you intend to do with Mayura?"

Loki looked down at Mayura's apprehensive face, and smiled.

"I intend to make her my wife."

Misao exploded. "You're **insane**! You seriously think that I'll marry my daughter off to some impostor who waltzes in and tells us that he's a god?" He rose, his face reddening rapidly. "Get out!"

Keiichi's parents stood as well, evidently having made a decision. In a coldly insulted tone, his mother asserted furiously, "Daidouji-san, we assure you that we're very much relieved to have known of your daughter's libertine attitudes _before_ the marriage! Keiichi, we're leaving!"

Keiichi ignored the commotion about them. "Mayura?"

Unwillingly, she looked at him, and Loki's hand snaked out to capture hers.

A world of pain in his voice, he asked her, "Are you really fine with that?"

She hesitated, and Loki's heart climbed into his mouth. Then, she nodded, and he breathed again.

Keiichi's eyes grew shuttered. "I see." He got to his feet, and addressed her flatly, "Good bye, Daidouji." The boards creaked slightly as he turned.

"Keiichi-kun, I'm sor..."

He spat, "That's not what I want to hear!" Mayura halted, and he breathed hard for a second, his back to them. Eventually, "... I think it will be better if we don't see each other for some time, Mayura." He slid the door shut behind him.

Once their voices had faded into the distance - Misao had gone off with them to try to convince them to stay - Mayura sagged weakly against Loki. And as he rubbed her back in small, circular motions, he marveled at how tiny she seemed just then.

"I did a terrible thing to Keiichi-kun, didn't I?" Her voice was awash with unshed tears.

He gathered her close into the warm circle of his arms, and buried his face in her fragrant hair. "Mmm." He offered no excuse, nor any untruth, but simply gave her the support he knew she needed at that moment.

Her eyes drifted shut, and she leaned into his strength.

The door slammed open.

"Papa..."

"You!" The priest was enraged as he stalked over to Loki to haul him up to his feet with surprising might. "Get out! This instant!"

"Mayura-papa..."

He rounded on Mayura. "And you go back to your room, you hear me! You're a disgrace!"

She crumpled before the harsh words like a rag doll, but clung stubbornly to Loki. "I won't!"

Her father's nostrils flared in his rage, and he raised a hand. "Do you know what you're _doing_?"

Loki stepped firmly in front of her, and Misao's arm trembled for a fraction of a second as he struggled to master his fury, before lowering his hand. Regarding the man icily, he carefully detached Mayura's nerveless fingers from his arm.

Mayura looked, dismayed, at him. "Loki-kun...?"

The uncertainty so plain in her eyes cut him deeply, and heedless of her father's presence, he kissed her gently. "It'll be fine, Mayura."

She stared at him, before nodding her head slowly. He smiled down at her.

"Mayura-papa. I will relinquish her to you for the time being, till you have calmed down... But."

"But?" The priest seemed to be fighting down a sense of intimidation.

"I will not see her come to any harm. If I hear of a single act of abuse against her..." He let his sentence trail off.

The implied threat caught her father's attention, and he glared resentfully at Loki. "If you think that I'm such a pathetic father as to hurt Mayura intentionally, you've got another thing coming."

Loki smiled. "I thought not. Very well then; I shall entrust her to your care." And with one last, comforting press of his lips to her forehead, he left, striding into the falling night.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_Authoress: Didn't proof this much; been too busy packing my room. But I wanted to keep to my 2-week schedule thingy, so, here it is. :)_

_Since ff net no longer allows review replies, I'll just say thank you to everyone who did review! I love you people! -am a hopeless review junkie-_

_Also, as someone has asked me this before, Loki left to get the formalities and pesky details of their wedding (like inviting the entire pantheon, perhaps?) out of the way... And also, because he wanted to give Misao a chance to cool down, and reconcile with his daughter. And I thought a slap was fairly reasonable, although it might seem a little harsh. I mean, how often does your daughter get happily engaged, only to disappear on her wedding day and reappear hours later with an unknown man? AND with all the rampant speculation that must have gone on between the handmaidens?_

_Did everyone get the bit about Verdandi deliberately misleading everyone into thinking that Loki was... uhh... seducing Mayura, at that moment? -looks anxious-_


	5. a day in the woods

Mayura stole a peek around the pillar to see her father sweeping the courtyard, all the while mumbling an incessant stream of curses, and sighed.

One whole week, and he _still_ showed no signs of calming down!

_Mou... And Loki-kun hasn't contacted me at all either..._

Somehow, the thought made her feel achy inside. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, but...

She hugged herself, remembering the day he had come back to her, the final kiss they had shared just before he left the temple. The certain reassurance in his words, and more importantly, in his touch. The day he had claimed her for his own.

It was all just so terrifyingly blissful.

And she knew that there would be consequences, sooner or later. One just did _not_ consort with a god without some sort of ramification... But she was willing to take the risks, if it meant she could stay with Loki-kun.

Her arms felt suddenly empty and cold, and she found herself longing for his steady warmth around her, only to blush at such brazen boldness.

Releasing a frustrated breath, she gazed up at the blue sky. _I wonder what he's doing...?_

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"Is the darn thing broken?" Fenrir bounded up onto the chair before the mirror.

Yamino pushed his spectacles up on his nose. "Urd-sama, why is the mirror blank?"

Urd frowned, perplexed. "I'm not entirely sure... It _is_ supposed to be able to show anything on Midgard, is it not, Verdandi?"

Verdandi looked heartily offended by the insinuation that anything she created could ever malfunction. "Of course, Urd onee-sama."

"Then-"

"Then, perhaps that's because the object of your interest... _Isn't _on Midgard?" A low, richly amused voice suggested from behind them.

All activity in the room screeched to a standstill as they turned to gape at the new arrival.

"Loki-sama!"

"Daddy?"

"Loki-tama!"

"Hello, everyone. Having fun?" He lifted a mischievously innocent eyebrow at them.

Urd recovered after a single heartbeat. "Loki-sama, weren't you and Mayura-san progressing quite... ah... nicely?"

This earned Urd a very deliberate sort of look. "I didn't know that the Goddesses of Fate had gone into the match-making business, either."

She merely looked virtuous. "Why, we just felt that you needed a little encouragement to get things going."

"Hmm." Loki's expression bespoke much skepticism, but he accepted the answer with minimal comment. "Well, I can't say that I'm exactly unhappy about the way things turned out." He gazed contemplatively at the scrying device.

Yamino seized the lapse in conversation to put in his own question. "Loki-sama, then why did you return?"

Loki looked at his son as though he was being absurd. "To bring all of you back down as well, of course."

"... Ah." Yamino's eyes widened in understanding.

He considered Yamino for a while, then inquired, "... Didn't you watch me proposing to Mayura?"

Ecchan floated to her customary spot on top of Loki's head and settled down happily, shaking her head. "No, we didn't, Loki-tama. We were having tea downstairs."

"I see. In that case, I should probably inform all of you that we will be departing for Midgard as soon as possible. Yamino-kun?"

"Yes, Loki-sama?"

He grinned at his younger son. "Could I trouble you to make the necessary arrangements in my place? I rather suspect that Mayura's getting impatient by now."

"Of course, Loki-sama."

"In that case..." Loki walked over to the mirror, and invoked the spell which had cast him into Midgard two days before. "I'll see all of you soon. Oh, and Urd, Verdandi?"

They looked questioningly at him.

"Look forward to receiving a wedding invitation."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"Mayura."

The pink-haired woman stared, dumbstruck, at the man in their courtyard. "Keiichi-kun...?"

"I... We need to talk." He stared at her almost beseechingly, the entreaty in the brown of his eyes making her want to squirm with guilt.

She shook her head mutely, and they glinted. "Yes, we _do_. If you don't feel comfortable here, we can go to the woods."

Mayura shut her eyes tight, not daring to look at him. "Keiichi-kun, don't do this. Please. There's nothing else to say."

"Dammit, Mayura! Did you really think that I would smile, nod, and walk out, just like that?" He paused to draw a breath, exhausting in its length, then pleaded in a softer tone, "Please?"

"Mayura, go." Her father stepped up to them, his arms folded across his chest.

"Papa?"

He looked resolute. "You started this, Mayura. It's your duty to end it properly."

Despite her chagrin, she knew that he was right... It was only fair to Keiichi-kun, after all. And so, after hesitating for an instant, she nodded.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Loki walked out of the portal, much relieved to find himself on solid ground this time. Ignoring the cat that he had frightened out of its wits, he strode briskly in the direction of Mayura's home, Ecchan still bobbing up and down on his head with each step.

Idly, as a way to fill in the distance, he brooded on the notion of a god actually _marrying_ a human. Flings and the occasional paramour, yes, but marriage? It was a ludicrous idea at best, an impossible concept at worst.

There were just so many complications.

The most chilling of which was the looming issue of her mortality. What was time to an immortal, whose time stretched endlessly before him? Yet, he could _feel_ the seconds slipping inexorably through his fingers right now; the very same seconds which were counting down her lifespan.

He had known that they would suffer, but he had chosen this path, anyway.

Briefly, he wondered about his sanity.

In fact, it was - to be truthful - **_the_** issue concerning their union. And the worst thing was, he could see no satisfactory way around it.

Technically, as a god, he _could_ bestow immortality on her... But forever was a long time to bear, and even more so for a human. Should he let Mayura remain what she had been born to be? A mortal who would flare brightly and beautifully in the short candle of her life? Or should he take his chances and pray that she would not submit to the madness that would plague most humans?

Fool that he was to have disregarded the voice of reason; but he found that he couldn't bring himself to regret his momentous actions of the previous few days... Even with the certain knowledge that Mayura's death - his mind shied automatically away from the thought - would tear something irreplaceable and essential from him.

He reached the steps of the temple, and thrust the unpalatable thoughts into the back of his mind to meditate upon later.

When he rounded over the top, he was surprised to see her father, apparently alone, clearing up the fallen leaves in the yard.

"Mayura-papa?"

The priest started, then scowled at him. "It's you."

"You've gotten your emotions under control, I see. May I ask where Mayura is?"

The man paused indecisively, and that sparked suspicion in him. "Where did she go?"

They stared at each other for a while, before her father sighed and muttered, "She went out with Keiichi-san... To talk."

"I see. Do you know where, precisely?" Loki was rather bemused to feel a fierce tendril of jealousy uncurling in himself.

Misao glared at him. "Can't you just let them _talk_?"

Loki shrugged. "Mayura gets into trouble far too easily for me to leave her alone. I'm sure you understand, do you not?"

This elicited an unwilling snort of rueful agreement. "... Fine. They went to the woods north-east of here. But _don't disturb them,_ you hear?"

"Unless it's necessary. Thank you." He turned to leave.

"... Wait."

"Yes?" He stopped in mid-stride and looked back over his shoulder, to see Misao contemplating him, his eyes troubled.

"Are you serious about Mayura?"

Loki swiveled back round to look fixedly at her father. "If I wasn't, after I spirited her away on her wedding day, none of you would have heard another _word_ from her... Don't you agree?"

"... I guess not."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**_  
_

After driving her to the edge of the woods where they had gone so often, Keiichi led her from his car, and they walked in silence, all the way to the glade where they had first met.

As he paused at the gully at which bottom a small, but rapid river flowed, Mayura began. "Keiichi-kun... I... We..."

He interrupted her, "Did you ever really love me? Or was I just a substitute for that Loki?"

_Substitute...?_ "I... I really don't know. But now..."

"He's a **_god_**, Mayura. This whole thing is just so... unnatural!"

She clasped her hands together, her nails digging into the skin, as he gave voice to what she had told herself so many times during those lonely years when she had just discovered her feelings for Loki-kun. "I... know. But..."

He stalked over to catch her shoulders in his hands, giving her a frustrated shake. "Mayura, he will live forever. You won't. There's no way you can be happy together... Don't you see?"

Her breath caught in her throat as the burning words lodged painfully in her chest. She lowered her eyes. "But... I _am_ happy. With Loki-kun. I don't know how far I can... can go, but I will try my best. So..."

His eyes glittered strangely, and the next thing she knew, he was dragging her forcibly into his arms and crushing his mouth to hers. Harshly, vengefully, and she recoiled from the punishing nature of it.

Above all, it felt so utterly _wrong, _after Loki-kun's kisses. For a moment, Mayura couldn't respond for the shock; then she pushed hard against his chest. "Keiichi-kun, stop!"

He slid his mouth away, and asked in a gravelly whisper full of hurt betrayal, "Why, Mayura? _Why_?"

She stared at him, her head spinning, then shoved at him with all her might. "I'm sorry, Keiichi-kun. I... love Loki-kun. I'm sorry."

He released her at the force of her exertion; and she stumbled backwards, her foot slipping on the mossy rocks.

Everything happened so fast.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Loki's heart nearly stopped when he heard her cry, the scream piercing in the quiet forest.

_Mayura!_

He raced towards the sound, swearing under his breath. _If that Keiichi has done anything to her..._

A flash of the man himself, kneeling next to a crevice. Immediately, he stopped and burst through the wall of dense foliage, cold dread spreading through his limbs. "What-"

Keiichi glanced helplessly at him.

Pacing over to the rocky edge, his fears coalesced around him.

A pair of crimson, fear-stricken eyes stared at him from the bottom of the gully, its owner clinging desperately to the side of the ravine. "Loki-kun!"

Loki fought the maelstrom of panic in his own head, and dropped to one knee. "Mayura, stay there, and hang on tight!"

She nodded, coughing up water.

Never had he cursed his intolerance for water more. _What should I do...? Dammit!_

Ecchan - who had long since been forgotten - took off from his head, and he stared uncomprehendingly at her for a second. "Loki-tama, may I go?"

Loki's eyes widened, then narrowed. "Thank you, Ecchan. Be careful."

The shikigami trilled trebly in the affirmative, and dove into the gorge.

Mayura's precarious hold on the slippery rocks loosened.

Perhaps, if he had actually stopped to think, he would have been horrified at what he was doing and its possible consequences. As it was, though, Loki _didn't_ stop to think.

A blazing barricade of crackling flame roared up the walls of the ravine upstream of Mayura, blocking the running water for the few precious minutes Ecchan needed to retrieve the drenched girl and bring her to safety.

When the familiar deposited Mayura into Loki's arms, she was unconscious from pure trauma. Holding her close to give her his own warmth, he rubbed her freezing arms feverishly, and called her name.

Eventually, her eyes fluttered open, drowsily. "Loki-kun...?"

His insides melted with hot relief. "You idiot! What were you doing?"

She stuck out a tongue wearily at him, and that amused him, as much as it worried him. "It's alright now. Go to sleep, Mayura." Closing her eyes again, she put her arms around his neck trustingly, and obeyed.

After ensuring that she was otherwise uninjured, he got to his feet, taking utmost care not to wake her.

"... Loki."

"Is something the matter, Niiyama?" The trickster god did not bother to turn.

He could hear a faint rustling behind him, as though the man was running his hand through his hair. "... I'll drive. Come on." The sandy-haired man sounded oddly neutral.

Loki looked down at Mayura, nestled in his arms, and sighed resignedly.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**_  
_

"... I didn't know you were prone to car-sickness." Keiichi was obviously holding back laughter.

Loki accepted the cup of tea he proffered, and shrugged dismissively. "Mayura needed medical attention."

Her ex-fiancé took a seat across him, and persisted, "I didn't know that gods _could_ get car-sick." The man, damn him, was grinning openly.

Loki almost glared at him. Almost. "Look at it this way. At least you've never had to witness gods splashing mud on each other, or getting fired from part-time jobs on a regular basis of about four times per week."

"Really?" Keiichi looked genuinely interested.

"Oh, yes." He was distracted from further elaboration by a soft sound behind him, which indicated that Mayura was waking up.

"Mayura?"

She blinked sleepily. "I... Loki-kun? Where..."

"You don't remember?" Loki touched her forehead, smoothing back the stray strands of her hair.

"Wait... the glade... Keiichi-kun!" She bolted upright and immediately wavered from sudden dizziness. He caught her deftly, and eased her back onto the futon.

Keiichi knelt down next to her. "Mayura... I'm sorry. I won't do... something like that again, I promise you."

_Something like **what**?_ Loki glowered purposefully at Keiichi, only to be blithely ignored.

Keiichi cleared his throat. "And... uhh... We need to go down to the marriage registry together to... dissolve our marriage."

It took a while for that to sink into Mayura's fuzzy mind. "You're willing to...?"

The man nodded, bitterness tinging his features. "I see that your heart is with... Loki, and I won't stand in your way." He took in her delighted smile, and his expression clouded further. "But. I'm still angry with you, so don't bother asking me to your wedding, you got that?"

Before either of them could form a reply to that, he stood and bowed, a little jerkily. "Good bye, Daidouji-san."

Misao stood outside the door watching them, his face inscrutable. "Keiichi-san, I'll walk you out."

Keiichi hesitated, then nodded. "Thank you, Misao-san."

When he was sure that they were quite alone, Loki tugged her literally into his lap. "And what _did_ Keiichi do to you, Mayura?" He mock-frowned at her as her cheeks flared at the position.

"Ehm..."

"Never mind." Loki nipped her nose, and she startled at the small bite, flushing still hotter. "Mou, Loki-kun!"

This time, he rapped her head in admonishment. "Silly goose. Do you know how worried I was?"

Her bright, crimson eyes blinked adorably, and then she smiled. "You were worried?"

He laughed indulgently. "Don't make a habit of it." Holding her securely, he twisted and fell back on the futon so that she was sprawled on top of him. She yelped, then wriggled into a comfortable position and sighed contentedly. "If Papa comes in now, he'll have a _fit_."

"I don't think he'll come back for a while, you clueless girl." He stroked her hair gently, loving the way their bodies accommodated each other so well, his sharp angles fitting easily against her soft curves.

"Why not?" She sounded almost half-asleep.

He laughed again, and tucked her snugly against him. "Because I believe our relationship just got sanctioned by him."

"Thank goodness..." She relaxed completely against him, and promptly dozed off.

After watching her peaceful countenance for a while, he carefully rolled to place her back on the sheets, and drew the blanket up around her. Staying just long enough to lay a kiss on her cheek, he went to find Misao.

No doubt he'd have to do a little fast talking, but he was fairly sure he could get her father to agree. He was counting on it.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_Authoress: I hate this chapter. Before any of you start thwacking me over the head with a beanie, I'd like to explain why I took them to those woods, weak as my reasons may be.  
_

_I actually wanted Loki to rescue Mayura in some way; and the first thing I thought of was a fire (my clichéd, typical mind with zero creativity), but Loki could simply snap his fingers and put it out, since he's the God of Fire. Which would be boring. Hence, a river was the logical choice of medium. Also, the place he demonstrates his godly powers had to be desolate, which ruled out anywhere in the city. And the only place I could think of that satisfied those two requirements was in a forest of some sort. _

_If I can rouse myself enough, I'll write something about Keiichi and Mayura and how they first met. Probably in those woods, since it's special to them... And I -am- working on the Yamino one, although it seems to be turning out quite... uhh... angsty._

_Anyway, the next chapter will be the last, and will be more of a wrapping up loose ends, than anything else. /waves/ Till then!  
_


	6. A Lesson in Faith

If Fenrir had been a cat, he would have been purring.

As it was, he simply wriggled with delight in Mayura's lap as her fingers administered a thorough scratching to the back of his ears, even while she wandered far away in her thoughts.

After Loki-kun's mansion had magically reinstated itself over the space of one night, (a fact that Mayura's mind recognized as an incredible fushigi mystery, but really, was _anything_ more fantastical than getting married to a god?), he had told her that he had some business in Asgard, and left.

It had been almost a full month, since then.

"Mou! And to think our own wedding is in a week's time, and he's _still_ not back!" The very idea was making her jittery, in a excited, butterfly-in-the-stomach sort of way... And she was determined to savor every moment of it. After all, she reflected elatedly, you only get to be a bride once in a lifetime.

Yamino-san coughed discreetly. Mayura looked up at him, and gave him a sheepish smile. "Sorry, Yamino-san... Was I thinking out loud?"

He smiled fondly back at her, and proceeded to refill her teacup. "Mayura-san, time _does_ flow slower in Asgard... And I'm sure Loki-sama will... more than make up for his absence when he's back." His eyes held a knowing merriment, and Mayura pouted. "Why won't any of you tell me anything about why Loki-kun went back to Asgard?"

Yamino returned her a look of impeccable guilelessness. "I'm afraid you'll have to ask that from Loki-sama himself when he returns, Mayura-san."

She puffed up one cheek and made a face at him.

Below her hand, Fenrir nudged insistently at her fingers, which had stopped moving in the train of her ruminations. She laughed at his yapping, and continued her ministrations, exhaling a wistful sigh. "I wish I could understand what Fenrir is saying."

Yamino chuckled. "I'm not too sure about that, Mayura-san. Nii-san isn't... the most complimentary of speakers."

At that, the black puppy squinted at his brother, and let loose a series of snappy barks. Yamino winced.

"What did he say?" Mayura pressed eagerly.

"That the term is _honest_, and that being honest is far better than being... uhh... overly polite." The Midgard serpent translated the last bit so falteringly that it was obvious, even to her, that that was _not_ the term Fenrir had used.

"Mmm." Mayura gazed ponderingly at the pup curled up in her lap, and sighed again, this time with regret. "I wish I could see Ecchan, too. It's kind of sad that I probably won't ever be able to see one of the members of this family..."

"Mayura-san..."

Her eyes fell on the half-eaten slice of cake on the table, and she brightened as an idea occurred to her. "Ne, Yamino-san... Can Ecchan eat?"

He blinked at this sudden change in mood. "Yes, she can... But why?"

She scooped up a forkful of the cream cake and waved it temptingly in the air. "Ecchan...?"

After a second, Mayura felt a slight pressure at the end of the fork, and a portion of the cake disappeared. Exhilarated, she glanced up at Yamino. "Did she just...?"

"Yes, she did." He smiled at the apparently empty space above the fork.

"Well, it's _something_." She beamed.

Yamino watched her feed Ecchan, who was squeaking happily at the treat. "Mayura-san...?"

She looked distractedly at him. "Yep?"

"... How can you take all of this so calmly? I mean..."

There was a flicker of sadness and regret on her face, before her usual cheerful demeanor reasserted itself. "I had six years to accept it, Yamino-san."

He found himself completing the thought. _Six long, irrecoverable years._

"Ne, Yamino-san..."

Shaken out of his thoughts, he looked inquiringly at her. She fidgeted uneasily under his questioning gaze.

"How do you and Fenrir feel about... me marrying Loki-kun?"

He stared, before understanding burst on him. "If you're worried that we will object..."

Shaking her head, she repeated, "I mean, do you... umm... approve of me becoming... your step-mother?" She flushed with embarrassment, even as she stuttered the words.

Yamino weighed his words, sensing her insecurity. Finally, he looked directly at her, and smiled reassuringly. "Loki-sama needs you, Mayura-san... No matter how much he professes otherwise. And that's reason enough for us to approve of you."

"So you don't dislike me, or anything?" The smoldering ashes of doubt and anxiety stirred in the depths of her innocent crimson eyes, and he laughed. "No, of course not."

She relaxed, smiling in relief. "Thank goodness."

Yamino picked up the empty plate before her. "Mayura-san... Loki-sama really _does_ need you. And although Nii-san will never admit it," Fenrir growled and looked highly uncomfortable, "we're all very glad that you decided to return to Loki-sama's side. Thank you."

Mayura blinked, and then smiled. She shook her head, and whispered, "I'm glad, too."

He made to leave, but was held back by her voice. "Yamino-san, do you think I could stay here tonight?"

It was on his tongue to ask why, until her expression stopped him. An odd mixture of yearning and melancholy, which just did not belong on her face. "... Of course, Mayura-san."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Cloaked in the shadows of the night, a silhouette came to stand at the front porch of an immense mansion. It hesitated, before reaching out a hand to touch the antique door. Curiously enough, the elaborate affair of carved wood and wrought steel swung open silently at his touch, as though welcoming its master, and the shrouded frame stepped into the abode.

Loki sighed wearily; the past few weeks of persuasion and constant conferences had taken their toll on him, but at least he had obtained what he wanted. _I suppose Yamino-kun and Fenrir are already asleep._ He debated the need to shower, then grimaced at the time it would take to fill their tub with hot water... And he absolutely _refused_ to bathe in anything less than steaming hot liquid.

_Fine. The bed it is. _

Having determined as such, he straightened and strode purposefully to his room, anticipating the luxury of satin sheets against his skin, pushed open the door...

And froze.

By the illumination of a small lamp on his side-table, he managed to discern a curvy figure in his bed, and a river of pink hair spilling over the pillows. A figure who was breathing deeply and regularly, her face composed in peaceful slumber.

"Well now." He blinked, just once, a gesture most unlike him.

Her breathing changed, and she sat up slowly, rubbing at her eyes. "Loki-kun...?"

He approached the bed cautiously, noting in passing the way the lamplight reflected off her silken nightdress in soft folds of golden luminance. "Did I wake you up?"

She shook her head, and he came to her side, still slightly confused.

Then, as if having one's fiancé return in the dead of night after a month of absence, only for him to find oneself sleeping in _his_ bed was the most natural thing in the entire world, she calmly leaned over to place her arms around him. "Welcome home, Loki-kun."

Three simple words which, somehow, meant so much.

He gathered her into his arms and coiled her hair around his wrist, and let it fall from his hand, before winding it around his fingers again. As he watched the tresses cascading down her back, again and again, catching the golden glow of the lamp, something taut in him unwound.

"Mmm. So, why are you in my bed?" His voice was teasing, amused.

She pressed her cheek into his hard chest, and released a soft sigh. "I missed you, Loki-kun."

A peculiar warmth spread through him at her words, and he tugged lightly at a lock. "Not answering the question, are we?"

"I _did_. Mou..." She sounded drowsily cross.

He laughed quietly, and then slid into bed with her, enjoying the little squeal she gave at the coldness of his limbs. "I should probably change." He lay still, letting her sweet scent of wild lilac envelop him.

She drew back from the embrace, and he looked at her. "Mayura?"

She murmured sleepily, "Didn't you want to change?" Her fingers began undoing his tie, and Loki startled at her sudden boldness. And he became intensely aware of just how close they were, and how pliant she was in his arms... And he was sorely tried to not pull her closer still.

Finally, she had his tie and jacket off, piled in a small heap behind him, and then she cuddled, her warmth seeping through the fine cotton of his shirt. "Loki-kun..." Almost immediately, she drifted back into blissful sleep.

He, on the other hand, lay awake for a long time, unmoving, yet grappling with an erupting desire as he possessed her hungrily with his eyes, his gaze traveling the curvaceous terrain of her body. The curve of her neck, the round of her shoulder, the fullness of her breasts and hips.

Eventually, he slipped carefully from the bed, and went to the bathroom. To take a long, _cold_ shower.

It was going to be a long night... and week.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

"Where's the veil?"

"Forget that, where's the _ring_?"

The place was in total uproar as the many goddesses rushed about, preparing for the wedding. Mayura sat before her dressing table, brushing her long hair out, completely impervious to the bedlam about her.

She could scarcely believe that she really _was_ wedding Loki-kun. It was impossible, incredible... And she felt a sudden chill of irrational terror. What if it was all a mistake? Or a dream? Or...

_No_, she decided firmly, braking her runaway thoughts. _I'm being silly. _And resolutely, she put away the fear. For now...

For now, she would concentrate only on the fact that she was Loki-kun's bride, and nothing else.

"... Mayura."

Her father regarded her with something like pain and resignation in his eyes. "Papa?"

"You'll be leaving my household today, Mayura. Before that, I wanted to apologize for... hitting you. And... to tell you to take care."

She giggled at his awkward contrition. "It's not like I'm going far away, Papa."

He smiled, a little sadly, at that. "Come back once in a while, Mayura."

"I will, Papa. Love you."

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

To the average passerby, the wedding ceremony was nothing out of the ordinary, if one discounted the obviously foreign clothing some of the guests were wearing.

To people in the know, however, the sight of the entire pantheon of Norse gods, attending a Christian-style wedding on Midgard, was - to say the least - bizarre in the extreme.

It didn't help that Frigg had firmly shooed the priest to one side and taken over the proceedings, either.

"Do you, Loki Laufeyjarson, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife?"

"I do." Loki gave the slender goddess a confident smile, and Mayura envied him that. _She _certainly didn't feel that confident.

Then Frigg turned to her, and she straightened, coming to attention. "And do you, Daidouji Mayura, take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do." Mayura smiled what she hoped was a steady smile, her stomach clenching with nerves.

"Then, I pronounce you man and wife. You may exchange your rings."

They turned towards each other on that cue, and Mayura was once again struck by how _beautiful_ Loki-kun was. With the sunlight streaming through his hair, changing it to a molten halo, and his emerald eyes alive with devilry, he looked every bit the Trickster God of Nordic myths. Feeling strangely shy, she offered him a hesitant smile, and saw the corners of his lips quirk in knowing amusement.

A handmaiden brought forth a silk cushion bearing two simple rings of gold. He retrieved the smaller of the two, and took her hand in his. Raising it, he pressed his lips to the back of her ring finger in a wordless vow which sang sweetly in her heart.

Gently, he slipped the golden band on her finger, holding her hand for a second longer before releasing it. She looked down at the ring, a warm weight on her finger, and soared. And this time, the smile she gave him was one of pure joy.

Her fingers seemed suddenly swollen and clumsy as she picked up the other ring to attempt to place it on _his_ finger. He watched gravely as she grappled with the task, waiting. When the deed was finally done, he rewarded her with a mischievous smile; then totally uncaring of their audience, he caught her hand in his and pulled her to him.

"_Loki-kun!_"

Any other protests she might have made died at his bone-melting kiss.

When he was through, Frigg frowned disapprovingly down at him. "You didn't wait for me to tell you to kiss your bride!"

He shrugged, a satisfied smirk on his face. "What's a few formalities?"

Frigg glared at him.

He laughed softly, then clasped Mayura's hand in his. "Shall we go?"

His eyes were deeply tender, and a thrill of happiness rang in her. She nodded, and he grinned. Without warning, he swept her up in his arms, and blithely ignoring her squeal of surprise, led the procession to their home.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

What if she rejected the apple?

It occurred to Loki, rather belatedly, that Mayura might not _want_ to become immortal. He watched her mingling with the female half of the pantheon, although she - noticeably - did not stray too far from him.

Her gaze came back, as always, to linger on him, her eyes shining with delighted laughter. Giving her a smile, he felt uncertainty flare in him.

She _mustn't_ reject it.

Not now, not when he had come to realize the depth of his feelings for her.

"You look so serious, Loki-kun."

He startled, then looked down to see her peering questioningly at him. "I guess I do." He kissed her forehead lightly.

"Is something wrong?" she persisted, her face worried.

Avoiding a direct answer, he smiled reassuringly. "I'll tell you about it later."

She frowned fretfully at him, then relented. "Promise, okay?"

"I promise, you silly goose." He prodded her forehead laughingly.

After studying him for an instant, she smiled. "Love you, Loki-kun." Reaching up, she pecked him on the chin, before bouncing off again.

His eyes followed her as she talked animatedly with Thor. Just like the quick kiss she had given him, Mayura had always been on the flighty side, carried along on the temperamental current of her emotions and fancies. Of her feelings towards him, however, he was sure... Why else would anyone bear such a painful attachment for six years?

The thought gave him hope, but also disquieted him. What if she accepted his gift out of love, only to regret it years later?

_Complications, indeed. _He sighed.

"It's a little late to have misgivings, Loki-sama."

"... Urd."

The goddess came up from behind him, her eyes also trained on the pink-haired woman who had captured him so unexpectedly.

He shrugged. "I'm not having misgivings, exactly."

She raised an elegant eyebrow. "Then?"

He gazed at her, savoring the way she seemed to glow with her joy. "... I want her to be happy, that's all." The words were soft, drawn from the deepest, truest part of him.

"Do you not believe in yourself?"

"Of course I do."

"Then you don't believe in her."

He shot the Norn a sharp look. "I love her."

Skuld's eyes were stern. "The two are not the same, Loki-sama."

He made no reply.

"... While it may not be my place to do so, I would commend to you the power of faith, Loki-sama. Certainly, Mayura-san has utmost trust in _you_."

With that, she turned and left him alone with his thoughts.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

Long after the festivities of their wedding had wound down, long after the sable blanket of night had fallen, he cradled her gently in the crook of his arms, their bodies spent.

Her breathing was slow, and deep, and he knew she was on the verge of falling asleep. Tenderly, he touched a kiss to her temple, and she responded drowsily. "Loki-kun?"

He had to do this _now_, before he lost his nerve. "I have something to give you, Mayura."

"Hmm?" Stirring, she stretched languidly, her smile filled with a feminine satisfaction. Her lashes fluttered open, and she gazed at him, her soft crimson eyes still slightly damp from the tears she had shed in the course of their earlier loving.

As he watched the glowing expression of trust in her features, Urd's words came back to him in a rush.

He would _not_ betray that trust, not ever.

And, looking back at her, he consigned common sense to hell in one daring leap of faith. "This." Producing the precious apple from apparently nowhere, he gave it to her, along with _his_ trust.

She propped herself up with one arm, the ghost of a flinch passing through her face as her lower abdomen ached dully with the movement. Wonderingly, she stroked the golden apple with her fingertips. "... Idun's... apples?"

He gave a brief nod, his breath held.

Curling her legs under herself, she cupped the flawless fruit in her hands. "Loki-kun..."

"I want you to choose, Mayura." He sat up as well, but did not attempt to draw her close. If he wanted to, he could very well just seduce an agreement out of her... But he loved her, and therefore, he would give her the freedom to pick their path.

She looked up at him, her crimson eyes wide, seeking.

"Choose, Mayura." _Please._

All of a sudden, she smiled, and bit into the honey-sweet flesh before he could stop her.

Alarm sprung into his heart, doing fierce battle with the selfish happiness that had blossomed there. "Mayura, wait!"

She swallowed, then looked up at him, her eyes smiling and infinitely passionate. Twisting, she nestled into him and whispered, "This way, I can be with you forever, ne?"

Euphoria caught in his throat, and he held her steady as she ate. "... Are you sure?" And he found himself praying desperately that she was.

She nodded, just a little. "I love you, Loki-kun." Her voice was muffled by the presence of the fruit at her mouth... But still, he felt the truth of her words, heard the overjoyed laughter in them. She sighed blissfully, and added simply, "I'm so glad." About what, she did not elaborate; but he knew all the same.

He buried his face in her hair, an outpouring of relief overwhelming him. "... I love you, Mayura."

She said nothing, but let herself go limp, giving herself over to him in an ultimate, intoxicating gesture of trust. And he knew that she was wearing a smile, just as he was.

Finally, she finished the apple. Plucking the core from her hand, he placed it carefully aside to dispose of later, and brought her hand to his mouth. He held her eyes, a wicked smirk in his own emerald ones.

Slowly, he licked the honeyed juice off her fingers. Enticingly.

She shivered deliciously. "Loki-kun, wait..."

Grasping her fingers in his, he pulled her to him and took her in a fierce kiss which left them both breathless and shaking.

Leaving her mouth, his lips roved over her face. "No?" Deliberately, he dropped his voice to its lowest notch, making it as rich and irresistible as the finest chocolate. "There's still so much I can teach you, Mayura." His hand caressed her stomach hungrily, commanding her passion. "So much." The last words were breathed in a huskily alluring whisper, a promise of what was to come.

Her response was decidedly unexpected.

As he lowered her beneath him, she slid her arms around his neck, and offered him a shy smile that was not wholly innocent. "You have forever to teach me, Loki-kun."

The blatantly inviting answer stunned him for a fraction of a second, before he threw back his head to laugh exultantly. "So I do."

Then, he bent his head, and feasted.

**VAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVAVA**

_Authoress: And that's a wrap.  
_

_Special thanks to everyone who have made me so happy with your reviews! XD I love you people! -glomps-  
_

_Also, I apologize for letting the reviews pile up - unreplied - but I promise I'll be getting to work on them straight away. _

_And above all... Merry Christmas, and happy holidays! _


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